HOUSTON If you think ghosts are merely Halloween fantasies, guests who ve stayed at the 100-year-old Hotel Galvez say you might change your mind after spending the night there.
The rooms and halls of the century-old landmark are said to be haunted.
Reports of strange noises, ghostly images and unexplained events are common. But nothing is as common as the reports connected to room 501.
This is a room we ve had many guests swear they ve seen something, heard something in this room, said hotel manager Steve Cunningham.
Legend has it that in the 1950s a woman who stayed in the room hanged herself in the hotel.
Supposedly a new bride and her husband were staying here at the hotel and he was called out to sea and she waited for him to return and after many, many days of him not returning there was a big storm and she feared that he may have perished, said Cunningham.
People have reported seeing the ghost bride throughout the hotel.
So KHOU 11 News went along with a team of paranormal investigators, a team that tracks the past in the present.
They set up their equipment, both video and audio, and attempted to communicate with the other side.
Countless attempts were made, but initially there was no obvious response.
Would you like us to leave? asked one of the paranormal investigators.
There was no reaction.
But investigators said when they cleaned up the audio they could hear a whistling sound and a female voice asking Is this the office?
Where s your favorite spot in the hotel? The investigator asked.
The investigators claim they hear someone saying It s in here.
Whether or not there s a ghost in room 501 - or anywhere else at the Hotel Galvez couldn t be determined.
But room 501 isn t the only place said to be haunted.
Jackie Hassan, who took over the role of concierge 12 years ago, says orbs, or ghosts in the form of balls of light, can be seen in many pictures taken by guests over the years.
Georgia Leisey, a massage therapist said she saw something in a portrait of Bernardo de Galvez.
It was a definite skull image right on top of his body, said Leisey.
When she went back, the image was gone.
There are times when I m alone, cleaning the room, getting ready for a client and there s always sometimes I get that feeling that someone else is in the room, sometimes the music changes channels, she said.
If you believe in the paranormal, the unexplained events, ghostly images and strange noises are just a few of the added amenities at Hotel Galvez.
